Astrid had barely been able to concentrate in the cave.
Yes, her heart began to bounce around in her chest when she found herself tightly locked in Hiccup's embrace. She'd studied Hiccup's eyes, amazed that she had never noticed their color. Green - a rather attractive green.
But the avalanche dominated her mind. Mostly because she knew who had caused it.
Astrid stumbled over another lump in the snow. Her knees hit the ground and she shuddered at the sudden, harsh cold seeping through her leggings. She stared down at the snow for a moment, trying to understand why she had come up here. Astrid had tried to forget what she had seen on the peak of Crane Mountain. Honestly, in all the drama that had arisen recently, she'd done a find job of pushing the memories into a dusty corner of her mind. But all the snow had flooded her brain, tugging the memories back like a child retrieves a beloved sled after a snow storm.
When she raised her head, she found herself face to face with … him.
He was surprisingly similar to her in looks - pale hair, bright blue eyes, thin but fit torso. The only difference that she noticed time and time again was the mischevious grin lighting up his face. None of the other vikings seemed as clever as he did, and Hiccup, though just as clever, wasn't as troublesome.
The boy hovering in front of her sported his familiar grin. He reached down and, in a move that made Astrid's stomach spin, gently yanked a lock of hair that always fell in front of her eyes. "Hello there, Astrid," Jack Frost whispered.
His voice wasn't like Hiccup's. Hiccup's had a sharp but welcome bite to it - a reasonable, steady edge. Jack's was soft, like slowly drifting snow, but it aged him considerably. Astrid blinked rapidly, trying to clear her head of the details pouring in. She swept her bangs behind her ear, but they were as stubborn as her, and fell back into place. Astrid's jaw clenched as Jack chuckled lightly.
Astrid straightened up, and she folded her arms across her chest as she glared at Jack. Jack groaned mockingly, swinging his staff around and shooting streams of ice through the air. Trying not to gaze at his icy creations, Astrid stuck out her bottom lip the slightest bit and tried to look tough.
"Okay, what did I do now?" Jack said, a smile tugging at his lips as he humored her.
"You know."
Jack stared at her, and Astrid tried to read his expression as he mumbled, "Do I?"
Huffing, she spelled it out for him. "The avalanche today."
He rolled his eyes and laid his staff across his thin shoulders. "Oh, that." Shaking his head at her, he smirked and said, "Didn't hurt anybody. What's the problem?"
Astrid realized with a cold shock that he had no idea. "Hiccup and I were on the mountain."
Jack's playful demeanor vanished. He scruntized her, not bothering to conceal his concern. "You okay?"
Astrid nodded. Her anger diminished. He hadn't meant it then.
Realizing how much emotion he was showing to her, Jack cracked his neck and smiled cooly. "How did the runt do?"
The anger burned and Astrid scowled. She snorted, "He's fine too."
Jack stared down at the village, dwarfed as it sat at the foot of the mountain. "Too bad."
As she sucked in her lip, biting it so she wouldn't lash out at him, Astrid turned her strong glare onto him. "What is your problem?" she asked, stepping forward.
The boy spun to face her. Taking a step toward her, he stared at Astrid. Their noses were five inches apart. "No problem," he said. His eyes clearly said otherwise, but Astrid couldn't tell. She cursed herself in her head. Hiccup knew emotions like she knew every curve and every chip of her ax. He had tried to educate her on how to read people like open books, but she hadn't paid attention at all.
Astrid couldn't find anything else to say. The two of them backed away from each other, busying their hands with trivial things and looking anywhere but at each other. The silence hovered over their heads for about a minute before Astrid blurted out, "I have to go. Stormfly's probably looking for me."
Jack made eye contact. "And that Haddock guy too," he reminded her, though resentfully.
Astrid summoned her last ounce of bitterness and she huffed at Jack. "Just … be more careful next time," she said lamely. A smile formed on Jack's pale face again, and Astrid spun around before the taunting could begin anew.
She took two steps forward; then she heard Jack call, "Oh, Astrid?"
"Yeah?"
There was no answer, so Astrid turned around. She saw she'd been had when Jack leaped forward, gravity abandoning its hold on him. Her eyes widened as his lips met hers. Their foreheads grazed, and Astrid's eyes slid closed involuntarily. She felt her stomach twirl, over and over again. She struggled internally to pull back. After a few seconds of simultaneous euphoria and torture, she was able to step back.
Jack seemed dizzy. He dropped to the ground, swaying a bit. With a strangely goofy smile, he said, "See you later, Astrid."
Astrid spun around, racing down the hill, trying to fill her mind with thoughts of Hiccup. His eyes, his metal leg, his sharp voice, his intellect, everything. Eventually, the kiss was pushed back into that same dusty corner.
Not forgotten, but still, to her slight relief, still there.